Boedi's Birth Story
I don't post here much - but wanted to share our drug-free story 
An abbreviated version of Boedi's birth story (full is on November 2011 Board). Water broke at midnight, and I just had mild cramping until about 2 am when the contractions were starting to be 1-2 minutes apart. I took a hot shower and that really did help with feeling relaxed. I kept hesitating about whether or not to leave for the hospital, and thinking back, I had all the signs of going through transition and needing to head over: vomiting, diarrhea, unable to talk through contractions. But I was doubting myself thinking "It can't be time to leave yet - FTM's labor can last hours - it's been like an hour!" So finally I called my mw and she said to meet her at the hospital.
Got checked by my mw right after getting into my room and was complete by the time I arrived! My husband finally got in the room after parking the truck and she said "It will be less then an hour!".
26 minutes of pushing and 41 minutes after we got to the hospital, Boedi William, 7 lb 5 oz arrived at 4:11am ! Our goal was always drug-free and to do a water birth. The tub finished filling up (takes about 30 minutes) right as I started to push but my and the baby's heart rate weren't where the mw would have liked them to be so she didn't let us get in the water anyways. They actually had me re-position myself to try and slow the contractions down because I was hardly getting a break between them.
Boedi was taken to the NICU because he didn't get the chance to get all the mucus out of his lungs during labor and had a lot of congestion. I wasn't able to nurse until the next day, but he is a natural and quite the little piglet!
At times, I wasn't sure I could get through the labor (and yes, I know 4 hours, only 2 of which were intense, I don't have much room to complain) but I just kept thinking "It's only a minute - you can do anything for a minute"
Good luck to those who wish to have a drug free experience!
And I apologize, I never figured out how to post a picture
Re: Boedi's Birth Story
Congrats! I have heard short labors can be VERY intense and it sounds like you did a great job dealing with it.
You can go ahead and complain! People think shorter is better, but I don't think that's always the case. Between (A) my 14 hour labor with a posterior baby and 3 hours of pushing, and (B) my under 4 hour labor where my body did all the pushing for me, I preferred A. B was so intense!! I felt I couldn't get a handle on it during the last 30 minutes.